Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-04-28
INTERSTATE COMMERCE
lmportant Rulings and Conclus-
ions OF the Communion.


Mfstaken Notions eorrected-The Commits
sion FowerIess to Act Untn Com
plants that the Law Has Been
Violated Are Presented.
WASHINGTON, April 1s--The Interstate
Commission sent to-day to several rail-
rsedss whose ofiicials have applied for re-
LEI against the short-hau1 provision Of the
law without making satisfactory show
ing OF their grievances, letters calling at
tention to the fact that before the com
mission can act upon petitions they must
in alf cases be properly verified. The
letters also set forth that
The law under which we are acting lays
down general law, which is presumably just
and which must be applied in all cases, unless
facts are proven which make a particular case
clearly exceptional. These should be shown by
the petition which is presented for relief, and
the commission, before it can grant the relief.
must satisfy itself on investigation that the
facas are as stated, and that they render the
ordinary operation of the law oppressive to an
extent that warrants an exception being made
In petitioners favor. the
commission does not grant general suspension
as to any road. but gives relief only as to the
trafhe between specified points.
tSigned1 T. NJ. COOLEY, Chairman.
The commission to-day also made public
document which, they state, is the most
important yet issued by them, bearing on
certain clauses of the Interstate law.
The document, while generally ap..
plicable, is in reply to petitions OF
the Order of Railway Conductors
and - the Traders and Travellers
Union. Those associations ask: care
railway companies prohibited from issu-
ing free transportation to the Immediate
families of employees Of their own rail
ways; from issuing free Or reduced trans
portation to officers of an association
composed exclusively of railway en-
ployes, while those officers are tempo
rarily out Of railway service and ex-
clusively employed by those associationsa
May railway companies issue passes to
employees OF other roads ON application
OF the employees, or must such applica-
ton come from the officer of the company
by which he is Employed May railway
companies issue free or reduced trans
portation to those who make railway SER
vice their business or trade, while tenn
porarily out of emp loyment and in search
of situatlonsa May railway companies
provide free transportation for delegates
TO the annual conventions of an associa-
ton composed exclusively of railway en-
pIoyes, including those who may be tenn
porarily out Of employment as well as
members of the immediate families of
de1egatesa
The application on behalf of the Traders
and Travellers Union states the system
under which an additional allowance of
free baggage has been heretofore carried
by commercial travellers, subject to writ
ten agreement for registry and indemni-
dcation. which system the commission is
requested to examine carefully sand ad-
wise us If there is any reason why a rail
road company desiring to do so should not
enter into such an arrangement to grant,
under stated terms, an increased allow
ance of free baggagea"
These two petitions are representatives
of large number of similar applications,
which have been made to the commission,
and have been selected simply because
they indicate the general character of all,
and enable the commission to announce
certain conclusions to which it has arrived
respecting its jurisdiction and its powers.
It is obvious from the tenor of such
applications that the impression is
prevalent that this commission has power
to construe, interpret and apply the law
by preliminary judgment. We are con-
'tinually. appealed to for decisions in ad-
vance as to whether common carriers,
said to be willing to adopt certain methods
of dealing with respect to Interstate
themselves to the penalties announced
by the statute for violations of it's pro-
visions.
Ascareful reading of the s'act to regu-
late commerce." under which this COM
,missioa is organized, will show that no
Jurisdiction has been given us to answer
questions like those under consideration.
1T is obvious that applications like those
of the conductors and Traders and Trav-
elers' Union have no relation whatever to
the duties imposed upon US by section 4,
nv,1 4sa IN ho nnl nm of hn vorxv
which the commission has power to sus-
pend or relax.
Seton 13 authorizes complaints to the
commission and confers jurisdiction to
entertain the same. Itprovides that s'any
person, etc, complaining of any thing
done or omitted to be done by a common
carrier subject to the provisions Of this
act, in scontravention of the provisions
thereof, may apply to said commission by
petition, which shall briefly state the
factsn; but neither the railway con-
ductors nor the Traders and Travellers
Union complain that any common carrier
has violated the law. On the contrary
they both aver that the railway COM
panieS do not violate the law
and do not wish to-. If railway COM
pany should issue pass to a candidate
and his family to attend the approaching
convention, or should transport three
hundred pounds of baggage free for
commercial traveller under the registry
and indemnity system, and some person,
feeling aggrieved, should make complaint
of unjust discrimination, it would then be
proper for the commission to entertain
the question whether such conduct was
or was not in violation of the law, and if
so, whether it was or was not with
in the exceptions stated in Sec
ton q. Complaints may also be
presented il the charges made by the car
riers are not considered reasonable and
Just, but until questions of this kind come
before US in the way clearly indicated by
the statute, it would be verse than use
less for us to express opinions or give ad
vice We should not only lay ourselves
Justly open to the charge of assuming UNI
warranted authority, but should also run
great risk of involving all concerned in
what the courts might afterward hold to
be breaches Of the law, by hasty and i'll
considered conclusions, based upon ex
parte statements and arguments
! EG0ngress has not taker the manage
ment of the railroads out the hands of
the railroad companies. It has simply
establis he'd certain general principles un-
der which int State commerce must be
CONDUCTED. II has enacted In section
that all charges for Interstate transpor-
tation "shal1 be reasonable and just;'
has prohibited lin section all
manner of unjust determinations; has
forbidden in sectiol- all undue and un-
reasonable preferences and advantages;